Erp Sap

Meta Group's Software Product Expertise service (SPEX) announced the results of its evaluation of general accounting system packages from ERP, Accounting System vendors. The results of the evaluation show that the accounting functionality provided by SAP and Oracle packages exceeds that of "best-of-breed" packages available from accounting software vendors, particularly for multinational capabilities.

Areas in which the ERP packages were found superior include:

Currency management: Handling the complexity of data consolidation in different environments and for many countries (e.g., multiple currency capabilities). For this reason, the SPEX report suggests that ERP vendors will be better able to handle the complexity of the transition in Europe from traditional currencies to the Euro.

Financial reporting: The ERP packages were found to offer a broad range of functionality fully integrated with other applications.

Cost accounting: ERP vendors demonstrated a greater ability to adapt to highly complex accounting processes.

Functionality need no longer be sacrificed when deploying enterprise-wide accounting solutions. However, there are tradeoffs. It is too complex to deploy ERP, accounting system offers quicker implementation and lower ownership costs.

SPEX kits provide detailed software product evaluations and analysis to guide clients in assessing, recommending or selecting software products. Each kit features detailed evaluations of leaders in the product category based on extensive on-screen testing.

The software packages are assessed using comprehensive technical and functional criteria including feature implementation, architectures, and interface design. Kits also provide comprehensive technology/vendor overviews, RFP checklists, and a selection guide to assist users in the evaluation and acquisition of software packages. Pricing for licenses and services is also provided.

Offered independently or as part of the Software Product Expertise retainer service, the new accounting package evaluation kit covers the following products:

ERP Vendors-- Baan IV (Baan) -- BPCS (SSA) -- Mapics XA (Marcam/Mapics) -- OneWorld (JD Edwards) -- Oracle Applications (Oracle) -- PeopleSoft Financials (Peoplesoft) -- R/3 (SAP)

Accounting Vendors-- CODA-Financials (CODA) -- Computron Financials (Computron Software) -- Hyperion Financials (Hyperion) -- Lawson Insight (Lawson Software) -- SmartStream (Geac)

Side-by-side evaluations cover extensive technical and functional criteria, including flexibility of the account key structure, hierarchy management features (entities, accounts), data entry, query and reporting features, multinational capabilities (currency management, multiple charts of accounts, inter-company transactions), receivable and payable accounts management, cash management, and budgeting.

The kit also contains:

A functional analysis of the accounting process and its interactions with other functions within the organization (e.g., human resource and payroll management, sales, purchasing, production);

An analysis of package positioning through key market differentiators; and

A comprehensive accounting package RFP checklist, delivered with a practical selection method.

The new kit encompasses a broad range of software categories (from business applications to collaborative computing and IT architectures). Clients who subscribe to the SPEX service receive monthly research, product updates, and ongoing telephone consultation, in addition to their choice of evaluation kits. The SPEX service was formed through a strategic alliance between META Group and CXP International. The alliance, META CXP LLC, has its headquarters in Reston, VA.